In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on former heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder returning to the ring against Tyrrell Anthony Herndon, the potential fight between lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson and mandatory challenger William Zepeda, and if Bruce Carrington deserves a title shot at featherweight.

We also cover what should come next for unified strawweight titleholder Oscar Collazo, whether Derek Chisora landing a heavyweight title shot against Daniel Dubois would be a good thing and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s continued downplaying of David Benavidez’s accomplishments.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.

DEONTAY WILDER MUST NEED THE MONEY IF HE’S STILL FIGHTING

Given that Deontay Wilder is no longer a contender and will never be one again, if he is fighting the guys we have never heard of, I guess there is only one explanation – he needs the money. Nothing else makes any sense. 

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Declan Warrington’s response: It may also be that Wilder, in many respects understandably, just doesn't recognize the fighter who shared the ring with Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang. The money he’d be getting paid for this next fight alone – against Tyrrell Herndon – is unlikely to vastly enhance his wealth. 

But if he can record an eye-catching knockout, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if plans are then made for him to fight Anthony Joshua, whose next move remains uncertain. The money involved in fighting Joshua would be far more significant; Wilder would also believe himself capable of winning, and perhaps even of moving into retirement on a high (not that it's likely to ever prove that straightforward).

DEONTAY WILDER’S POOR CHOICE OF COMEBACK OPPONENT 

Upon further review (“Former champ Deontay Wilder set for ring return on June 27 in Kansas”), the guy Wilder is supposedly fighting – Tyrrell Anthony Herndon – got knocked out by Richard Torrez. This is just bad. Better to stay on the sidelines. 

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Owen Lewis’ response: Better still to retire, I think. 

Wilder has been stopped three times in his career, either via concussive punches or a brutal accumulation of punishment (or, in the case of the third fight with Tyson Fury, both). Wilder already looked shot in his fight with Joseph Parker and looked worse than that against Zhilei Zhang. 

Wilder’s defining feature is his atomic right hand, and he can no longer let it rip with abandon. That’s not his fault – age and rust come for every fighter – but it does mean he is better off not fighting anymore. 

I’m sure his handlers tried to set up the softest of soft touches for Wilder here, and there’s every chance that against a lower-level opponent he’ll find the target with his consciousness-eraser again. I don’t think it’s worth it, though. He will get hit more, and he even runs the risk of being embarrassed by someone who wouldn’t have survived a round with him in his prime. People are already rewriting Wilder’s legacy because of his last two fights, and even the potential of enabling that further pales in comparison to the health risks. 

YES, SHAKUR STEVENSON IS BETTER THAN WILLIAM ZEPEDA, BUT…

I have no doubt that Shakur Stevenson is miles ahead of William Zepeda in the skills department. The only question I would raise is how would Stevenson’s hands hold up having to land more punches than he’s probably ever landed on any other fighter’s head. When Shakur lets his hands go like he did last month, he looks freaking amazing!

-LarryMerchant'sBottle

Lucas Ketelle’s response: It is a good point. Stevenson on paper seems better than most, if not everyone, in terms of his skill set. Now we have to see how durable Stevenson is. If anything, it makes Stevenson-Zepeda more exciting. 

Stevenson would know he’d have to be sharp and execute properly against the dangerous but at times imperfect Zepeda. Zepeda would more than likely be relentless. I also believe Tevin Farmer doesn’t fight exactly like Stevenson. While both seem to have been influenced by Pernell Whittaker. Stevenson uses his feet more than Farmer does. Regardless, Stevenson-Zepeda is a fight that I hope we see this year.

BRUCE CARRINGTON WANTS A TITLE FIGHT HE DOESN’T DESERVE

Would someone please explain to me what Carrington has done to deserve a fight against one of the beltholders? A questionable win over one fringe contender and 14 other bums? 

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Owen Lewis’ response: Sure, Carrington’s CV isn’t stacked with big names. But he passes the eye test, hasn’t been pushed outside that one close shave with Sulaiman Segawa, and he’s been clear and aggressive in wanting to fight a titleholder. Isn’t that what we want out of prospects? 

Carrington is currently ranked #9 at featherweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. If you’d rather see him fight somebody ranked higher than him who isn’t a titleholder, I can understand that, and if he can’t get a title shot next, I hope that’s what he does. 

I may well be biased from speaking to Carrington and quite liking him, but I’d be fine with him fighting a titleholder next. Either way, I think we agree that we’d like to see him test his skills against better competition at the soonest opportunity. I think he wants that, too.

TIME FOR ANOTHER UNIFICATION BOUT FOR OSCAR COLLAZO

Hopefully we get a unification bout for Oscar Collazo next, because Edwin Cano is literally the worst opponent he could've faced without getting stripped of a belt. Coming into this fight, Cano was 4-2-1 against guys with five or more wins on their records – and the draw came against a 5-10 fighter.  

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Jake Donovan’s response: Oscar Collazo and Melvin Jerusalem are the two best strawweights in the world, and both posted wins in a six-hour span. The timing could not be better for a rematch and now a three-belt unification match – four if you include The Ring championship.

The best news in this entire development is that both Collazo (the WBA and WBO titleholder) and Jerusalem (who has the WBC belt) want the rematch. Collazo, who defeated Jerusalem for the WBO title in 2023, made a point to watch Jerusalem’s repeat win over Yudai Shigeoka at an hour this past Sunday where he could have been sleeping (or still celebrating his own knockout win in Cancun). Collazo immediately called Jerusalem out afterward. Jerusalem is eager to avenge his lone blemish in more than seven years.

As far as Cano, the fight was owed to him per the conditions of permitting Collazo to set up last November’s unification clash with Thammanoon “Knockout CP Freshmart” Niyomtrong. Given Collazo’s rate of activity (steadily three fights per year), these small steps are necessary to get to the finish line.

Finally, this fight is the easiest to make as far as top fights/lineal championships go. Jerusalem – through the guidance of Sean “Viva” Gibbons – is able to work with any promoter. Further proof is in the fact that Jerusalem has already fought on the road in four of his past six fights, one of which was his abovementioned fight with Collazo.

IN FAVOR OF DEREK CHISORA VS. DANIEL DUBOIS

As long as it actually is his last fight (“Derek Chisora believes a fight against Daniel Dubois does ‘good business’ at Wembley Stadium”), I don’t begrudge Chisora getting a world title opportunity. The fight would do well commercially in the UK, too.

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Declan Warrington’s response: The fight shouldn’t do well commercially, because it’s a mismatch between one young, explosive fighter at his peak, and another who has been in decline for years and often showed worrying signs of deterioration. The reality is Derek Chisora didn’t deserve the title shot he got against Tyson Fury in 2022, and he’s no more deserving of another, regardless of the champion, in 2025. 

None of which is to say that anyone should begrudge him a penny that comes his way – he’s earned all of it. But it’d have been better for him to have retired years ago, regardless of whether that means doing so in a less financially secure position, than to take punches from Daniel Dubois – who may be the biggest puncher in the world today – and have to live with the heartbreakingly damaging consequences of doing so. It’s almost certain that the time will come when all of the money in the world won’t be able to improve Chisora’s quality of life.

CANELO STILL DUCKING BENAVIDEZ MAKES ME SICK

This [“Canelo Alvarez on David Benavidez: ‘He's accomplished nothing’” ] makes me sick to the stomach as a long time boxing fan. I can not ever remember a boxer running away from another boxer that is so obvious as Alvarez and his pathetic excuses to avoid Benavidez. It was bad enough that Alvarez refused to unify with Andrade but Benavidez is another level. As a long time fan of Alvarez I lost respect for him when he avoided Andrade but Benavidez is p!ss poor. 

-Bull Pit

Tris Dixon’s response: Hard to disagree when Benavidez’s biggest accomplishment would feasibly be a win over Canelo, but Benavidez is being denied the opportunity to even shoot for it. I actually thought it would happen at some point, but I’m less and less convinced it does and – as always seems to be the case – what a sad indictment it is on the sport that they couldn’t fight when it was red hot. Now it seems it’s barely mentioned in the fights most people want to see.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.